Wow it's been ages since I wrote a TVD fic and even longer that I wrote something AT ALL. Well, thanks university and thanks vidding obsession and thanks lame ass TVD plotlines... However, lately I was having TVD related dreams. Katherine dying related dreams to be specific. Even though I'm ultimately finished with TVD I couldn't ignore this plot detail. At the beginning of my TVD experience I hated Katherine, then I think it was in season 3, she became one of my favorite characters. She can't die! I mean, no way! So here you go with my take on Katherine's very last day. I started writing this, including some spoilers, but in the end the more spoilers were released the farther my plot differed so it's more like a "How I would want it to down" plotline. Oh by the way, I dedicate this one shot to my friends Inga & Patricia who have been encouraging me to write this down and couldn't wait for me to upload it. Enjoy!
Her Last Day
"Think about the worst thing that Katherine Pierce has ever done to you," Damon said and put a tray of full shot glasses on the table. "Let's toast to the glory of her impending death," he added and started serving everyone with drinks.
At Mystic Falls Hospital Stefan and Nadia were standing in the hallway of the Intensive Care Unit. In the room behind them lay Katerina Petrova, awaiting her impending death. After her heart attack a few hours earlier, Stefan had found her unconscious and not breathing. Using his vampire speed he had brought his former lover to the hospital where she had been reanimated and put on a breathing machine. All of this however changed nothing about the truth.
"She's dying. I don't think she'll survive the rest of the day," Stefan said to Nadia, folding his arms. He had called her as soon as Katherine had been taken care of.
Nadia had tears in her eyes. "I can't believe there's nothing we can do to stop it. She called me just before. We had a plan but it's no good if she's this weak already," she explained.
Stefan shook his head and smiled. It was sad smile. "I can't believe some of us actually wanted to take the cure… But everyone who knew about it failed to mention that it would be a short human life…"
"I want to see her."
Stefan nodded and motioned to the door.
Jeremy was the first one to reminisce. "She fed me to Silas and I died."
"Doozy," commented Damon and clinked classes with him. They both downed their shots and Damon refilled his. He earned a few a questioning looks but no one said something.
"Technically she's responsible for my grams' death," Bonnie continued. "She made everyone believe she was in the tomb which we opened while she was in fact not there."
"Thank you, witchy."
"Don't be so smug. You are still the one who forced us to open that damn tomb anyway," Bonnie reminded him.
"All in the past," Damon waved it off and shared a glass with her, too.
Without them noticing Katherine had regained consciousness while Stefan had filled Nadia in in the hallway. So they were surprised to find her awake and smiling upon their entering.
"Hey," she greeted them. Her voice and her body were weak but her eyes betrayed the truth and shined with strength.
Then suddenly they turned sad.
"Nadia…" I was hoping you wouldn't have to see this."
A single sob escaped Nadia's lips but she regained composure quickly and took a seat at the edge of the bed her mother was lying in.
"I want to be here," she assured her, forcing a smile.
Katherine's gaze wandered from her daughter to Stefan.
"I'd say thanks but I don't see the point in bringing me here. I'm gonna die anyway."
"It was a reflex," her former lover explained, shrugging. "Thought it might give you some time to –" Say goodbye. But he didn't utter the words out loud. He didn't need to.
Katherine nodded.
"So this is it, huh? The end. I was hoping it would happen quicker. Don't want to drag it out. Except for you guys no one's gonna miss me anyway. They're talking about me, aren't they?"
"No, they're reminiscing."
"I bet they're celebrating," Katherine said sarcastically. "They're probably having a party. Woo-hoo we're finally getting rid of her."
"That's not funny!" Nadia scolded her.
"Oops."
It was Elena's turn.
"Oh, where do I start. She killed my brother. She nearly killed John. She tried to kill me at least twice."
"Duh. She did kill me," Caroline reminded her. She raised her glass to clink it with Elena and Damon but then she froze midair. "Sadly, it's actually the best thing that has happened to me." What followed where half-hearted objections but Caroline persisted "Come on, you gotta admit I was dense bitch before I turned."
"Maybe a little," Bonnie admitted, bringing her thumb and her index finger so close that they were nearly touching.
"Understatement of the century," said Damon and bend forward to clink his class against Caroline's but she slapped his arm and downed her shot.
Damon shrugged and downed his.
Suddenly the doorbell rang.
"And who might that be now?" Damon asked and went to open the door. "Bus boy."
Matt entered, raising his hands without understanding. "Guys, what are you doing here?"
"We're honoring Katherine!" Damon declared and shut the door. "Grab a seat, grab a drink and share your worst Katherine Pierce moment with us."
"You're sick," Matt commented sourly. "You shouldn't be here. You should be at the hospital."
"Why?"
"Because even though she has been a bitch most of the time she's has had an impact on all our lives. And because she tried. I think the least we can offer her is forgiveness. Even if you don't really mean it. It's enough if you believe it."
Silence in the room. Guilty looks were exchanged after Matt's morale speech. Eventually Damon said "Alright, peeps, pack it up. Let's go."
They stood and followed Matt outside. Everyone except Elena. Caroline turned around when she didn't sense her friend by her side to see that Elena was still seated. "You coming?"
"Yes, I'll be right behind you. There's just something I gotta do first."
Stefan walked up and down the hallway. Nadia was still with Katherine, taking advantage of the little time they had left together. But he needed some space. He needed to think. Things had escalated quickly with Katherine in the past 48 hours. He'd meant what he said to her. It wasn't easy to forget more than a century in 24 hours. But still… when she'd kissed him, everything had come rushing back to him. And he had needed to kiss her back. He had wanted to kiss her back. They'd slept together and he didn't regret it. Even it was not an easy thing he realized he had forgiven Katherine for everything she'd done to him. He'd forgiven her a long time ago. It was the right thing to do. So he was not embarrassed to feel genuinely sad about her impending death.
"Stefan!"
The younger Salvatore turned around to see his brother and friends walk up to him. Stefan smiled.
"Good job, Matt."
Matt smiled. "How is she?"
"She's in there," Stefan said, motioning to the door. "She woke up a while ago. Nadia's with her now. Why don't you go inside, I'll take care of the nurse." And with that he went over to the nurse in charge of the intensive care unit in order to compel her so she won't nag them about there's only person and family allowed to see her patient at a time.
Katherine laughed about joke Nadia has made but it resulted in a major coughing fit which led to Katherine pulling the tube in her nose out.
"What are you doing?!" exclaimed Nadia.
"I don't need this thing. I'm gonna die anyway. Why prolong it any further?"
Nadia had no answer to that. So she was glad when they were interrupted by a knock.
The door opened and a large group of people she'd gotten to know in the past weeks. Matt Donovan lead the party into the room. The sight put a spark in his Katherine's eyes, making them shine with liveliness once more.
"I brought everyone I could find but the nurse said only ten people at a time," Matt joked.
Katherine smiled and mouthed a thank you to him.
Knowing she wouldn't have to die alone removed a great weight from her heart which had suffered a lot in the past hours. Hell, even her Elena had come. Not voluntarily that much Katherine knew.
The room was suddenly very crowded. But that wasn't the main reason why the air was getting very thin. With all of them showing up to pay their respects the truth was no longer avoidable: This would be Katherine Pierce's last day on earth. Her time was running out.
Everyone was silent. No one wanted to be the first because no one knew how to start.
"Oh come on, get it over with," Katherine urged them for a while.
"This is actually my first time saying goodbye. Usually people would just… leave too fast," Matt explained, searching for words.
"Tried that. Blame Stefan."
"You're welcome," the younger Salvatore growled, entering the room and closing the door behind him.
And Nadia hissed "I have no problem with slapping you again."
Katherine chuckled. "I'm going to make it very easy for you, Matt." She paused. "Thank you for training me. By the way you're fired."
This time Matt had to chuckle. "The pay was lame anyway," he continued the joke.
"I'm going to miss your blue eyes."
Katherine's gaze wandered from the only human in the room, except her, to the blond vampire who bit her lip.
"Truth is, you've been quite a bitch at first," Caroline started. "But then… You helped Stefan overcome his trauma and… you made me a better person. As crazy as it sounds, thank you killing and turning me."
"You make quite a decent vampire," Katherine allowed and Caroline smiled. Next in line stood Bonnie who was silent for a long time. "Um, sorry for pushing but I'm actually on the clock here," the + 500 year old reminded her.
"Well, I have no idea if it's any consolation for you as it is for me but I'd rather dealt with your immortality than with your soul later on."
"Thank you, it comes right from the heart," replied Katherine and added "Emily would've been proud of you."
That threw Bonnie off-guard. A compliment from Katherine Pierce? That was a first… and it would be a last.
"Th- thanks."
"We're even," declared Jeremy before the dying girl could open her mouth.
"I guess we are," she agreed, recalling how he'd looked out for her when she had had that sinus infection. It hadn't belonged after she had once again left him to die but he had helped her anyway. It meant a lot to her.
Elena was silent. She had her arms crossed and her jaw clenched tightly. Katherine knew that she had only come along for peer pressure reasons.
"Elena…" Matt urged her gently.
"It's okay," Katherine told him. "There is no way in hell I'm forgiving you for killing me so it's only fair not to expect forgiveness from you, either."
"Katherine!"
"Kinda hypocritical, don't you think? How can you expect forgiveness when you're not willing to forgive anyone?" Jeremy pointed out.
"I'm dying," she stressed.
"That's no excuse."
"Honestly, I have no idea what you want me to say," Elena spoke now. "You left Jeremy to die – twice. You tried to kill John. You tried to kill me. I'm not Isobel. We were never friends. We never would have been."
"Elena!"
Several people were shocked by her bluntness. And one was pissed.
"If you only came here to nag at her you better go," snarled Nadia.
But Katherine shook her head. "It's okay. I'd rather have the truth than some lame apology. And FYI, thank you for killing me."
"I think that's enough," Stefan broke up the argument before it could get any more heated and one could literally slice the air.
"Stefan." Katherine's face lit up. "You don't have to say anything. You already gave me the greatest farewell gift."
"Ugh." That from Caroline who had heard the two the night before and then immediately fled the manor. Next was Damon who had already heard Katherine brag about it in the morning after. When everyone else slowly caught up a few more "Ugh"s filled the room.
Stefan chose to ignore all this like it had never happened. Instead he gave a Katherine a true smile. "You already know I forgave you for everything that happened in 1864 and after…"
At this point the other Salvatore nodded firmly, relieved that his brother had uttered the words because he couldn't. A lump had formed in his throat since he heard Katherine's prognosis. He'd tried to downplay it all day now he just couldn't. Katherine picked up his strong gesture and gave him a smile.
"Well, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to be alone with my mother now," Nadia announced now.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Assuming it was just an overzealous doctor that Stefan had failed to compel she glared at the door which just opened to see a man she didn't recognize.
"Elijah!"
Katherine as well as everyone else stared at the original vampire who had made an unexpected visit. Everyone but Elena who smiled faintly. "It's the least I could do."
Katherine was speechless. Not only because the man she had grown to love in the past year was standing right in front of her but even more so because her doppelganger – her shadow self – would do something like this for her even though they felt mutual hatred toward each other. She just mumbled a sheepish "Thank you…"
Elena nodded. "And for what it's worth, I am sorry."
And with that she softly patted Elijah's arm and left the room.
That was their cue to leave.
"Alright, let's give the two some privacy, come on."
Damon ushered everyone outside and closed the door behind him. Now it was only the two of them. Elijah who had been standing by the opposite wall walked up to Katherine's bed now and sat down by her side.
"Hello," he greeted her softly.
The next twenty minutes the original vampire asked his former lover how she had ended up in a hospital bed dying because that was everything Elena had told him when she had hurriedly called him before.
"I wish you had called me," he said.
"Why? It wouldn't have changed anything."
"I would've wanted to be there. Help you through it."
"You left," she reminded him, struggling to keep the pain out of her voice.
"Yes, Klaus needed my assistance but you should have come."
"Yeah, sacrificial lamp reporting for the slaughter. Klaus would've killed me in an instant."
"I wouldn't have let him," Elijah declared firmly.
Their eyes locked. In this moment a lot transpired between the former couple. Much more than simple words. And Katherine got the message. And she wished she'd actually had the courage to go to NOLA. She still had feelings for Elijah and apparently he returned them.
Elijah's eyes filled with sadness now and… guilt? Katherine wasn't sure but her assumption was confirmed soon.
"I've got a confession to make," he started. She looked curiously at him.
"I strayed," he continued. "I was confused. So I formed a union. We both felt out of place… and were looking for comfort."
"I get it. You met another woman. It's okay. I had a moment of weakness, too," she admitted. "With Stefan. I tried to kill myself. He saved me. Long story. You?"
"Haley."
"HALEY?!"
The exclamation was followed by a huge coughing fit. It took several rounds. At the end Katherine was weaving. Her chest contracted. Her breathing hitched. Her eyes watered. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Panic rose inside her. She thought this was it. She didn't want to die! Not like that!
But then she recovered. Her breathing evened and she lay back. During her fit Elijah had held her, rubbing her back soothingly. Now he just looked sadly at her.
"I don't want to die," she whimpered. She hated it. Feeling so weak. And him witnessing her weakness. "I could kick myself for giving you the cure. Then again how was I supposed to know sweet Elena would shove it down my throat," she added darkly.
"I'm sure Elena didn't know it would lead to this," Elijah interjected.
"She did know it would turn me human and make me weak and useless."
"You shouldn't see it as punishment. Rather as chance. Being human again must be a wondrous experience."
"Trust me it's not." She shook her head. "I hate it. Being a vampire on the other hand I loved. No feeling weak. No getting sick. No pain. No emotions. Freedom. When I wasn't currently on the run from Klaus that is. I was good at it, being a vampire."
Elijah listened patiently to her speech. He didn't necessarily agree with her but he knew her long enough to get why she would feel that way.
"Well then why – "
The +5oo year old already knew what was the question.
"I tried. I chunked down lots of vampire blood. Damon's… Stefan's… Caroline's… some guy's when I was on the run after I woke up human. My body always rejected it."
"Wait… You took blood from the Salvatore's and Caroline."
"Yes," she confirmed. "And that loser guy."
"How old a vampire was he?" asked Elijah.
"Don't know. He was pretty reckless. Definitely a newbie. A couple of years. Why?"
"So you never tried the blood of a vampire older than you?"
"Well no, I was kinda short of one," she replied in duh tone. "What are you getting at?"
"I was just thinking… You were more than five hundred years old when the cure rendered you human. So maybe any vampire's blood was not strong enough to turn you back. The blood from a vampire older than you however might do the trick. It's just a thought," he added quickly. "I have no idea if it would work."
But Katherine wasn't listening to the last part. She had stopped at him offering her a way to try and prolong her life. Something she hadn't tried before. And she was all for it. She had nothing left to lose, right?
The original vampire didn't miss her mood swing.
"What?" he inquired. He just had to smile when he saw a little spark return to her eyes.
"Let's do it," she said. "Give me your blood."
"Are you sure? I just told you – "
"I don't care. Let's try it, come on," she urged. She wanted to do this more than anything.
"I guess it's worth a shot," he agreed.
With a flick of his fingers he cut a wound into his wrist just large enough for a thin lane of blood to flow out of it. He leant forward until Katherine met his wrist with her mouth. She started to suck and swallow a few drops of blood until Elijah pulled away.
"How do you feel?"
"Unchanged. But I'm not throwing up which must be a good sign." Elijah smiled until her next request. "Now kill me."
"Excuse me?!"
What, you didn't really think I was going to wait until Death finally claims me." The look on his face told her he actually had. "No way! I'm not letting it. That's the same reason I jumped off the clock tower the other day. It's my life and I get to decide when it's over. Not nature running its course. So go ahead, kill me."
"But we don't even know if it'll work. What if you actually die?" Elijah tried to reason with her. He didn't want to be responsible for her death. He would never forgive himself.
"Bad luck I guess. Think of it as my dying wish. Please Elijah, I'm begging you. Besides, what's better than dying with the strongest feeling of hope?" she added. "Please."
It was such a messed up situation. Elijah could hardly wrap his head around it. Here he was, in a hospital with a dying woman. The same woman he'd pined over half a century ago and these feelings had never ceased. Not once in all these years. And what an incredible woman she was. He couldn't take it. It was all too much.
So he did what he actually could do. In a blink of an eye he leant forward and captured her lips with his. It was his way of letting her know how he felt and trying to convey all the love he felt for her which had never been stronger than in that moment.
Katherine was completely taken aback by this sudden gesture. The heart monitor's beeping sound was thrown out of rhythm just like her heart had been. At first she had even stopped breathing. But then she relaxed and eased into the kiss, cherishing every second of it.
After a while he pulled away. They simple looked at each other. Katherine saw the hesitation in his eyes. He was stalling.
"Do it," she whispered. "Do it now."
His hands came to rest on either side of her head. He looked deeply into her chocolate brown eyes. She closed them in anticipation. He followed her example, preparing himself for what he was about to do. After all it was every day that you killed the love of your life… True… he did love her. Like he had never loved a woman before and after. In fact, she was the one who had taught him about love in the first place, made him believe in it. And he had never told her.
"I love you," he whispered.
SNAP
The sound of a cracking bone was a terrible sound to hear. For an original vampire with enhanced hearing it was even worse. It shot right through him, making him jump. Shivers ran down his spine. Almost instantly the heart monitor went crazy and started transmitting an equally uncomfortable sound of heart no longer beating. The sound of a life that had ended.
Elijah opened his eyes. He cradled Katherine's read in his hands. After the twist it had slumped to the left. Her expression though was peaceful.
Suddenly the door of the room burst open. Alerted by the sound of the heart monitor Katherine's next of kin stormed inside to see what was going on. They saw the dead girl and their eyes widened.
"What did you do?!" screamed Nadia and Damon demanded "What the hell have you done?!"
Not only the goodbye party but also nurses and doctors came running into the room, ready to save Katherine's life. Oh the irony… Elijah didn't pay attention to either of them. Instead he scooped the dead girl up in his arms and walked straight through the crowd.
"Take care of the fuzz," he ordered Damon before he sped off.
Elijah stood on a clearing of the woods, watching the beautiful sunset. Behind him Katherine lay motionless in the grass. During one of his many travels around the world of his long existence he had picked up some sort of wisdom from a German once. They called this wisdom a "Bauernweisheit". It basically said that when you're facing a beautiful sunset in the reddest hue you will be graced with a beautiful day tomorrow. Of course this wisdom did not apply if the red sky mirrored death and violence but for now Elijah wanted to believe the Germans while he waited for Katherine to wake up.
He had already been waiting for three and a half hours. Ever since he had killed Katherine – the mere thought of it still caused a shiver to run down his spine – she had not awaken nor shown any other indication that his attempt to turn her back into a vampire had been fruitful.
He wouldn't be waiting any longer than thirty more minutes. If Katherine was still dead by then he would find her a nice place and bury her in it.
Later at the manor the news had slowly sunken in that Katherine Pierce had left the world. Nadia had lost herself in a crying fit and Caroline was trying to comfort her. Elena sat opposite of them, feeling guilty about what had happened for the very first time.
Arriving home Damon had grabbed a glass and a bottle of his finest scotch and walked straight out into the backyard. Stefan had left him alone at first but after Damon hadn't returned one and half an hour later Stefan walked out back to join him.
Damon just stood there, staring ahead, occasionally taking a sip.
"You okay?"
Damon didn't answer at once. "She's really leaving a gap, you know?" Stefan didn't reply to that. He just patted his brother's shoulder, waiting for him to go on. "I've convinced myself that I hated her. After I've loved her for 145 years. Hell, I even fed her to Silas and still…"
"It gets to you," Stefan finished the sentence, nodding.
"Yeah… I guess bus boy was right. She did have a pretty big impact on all of us. Apparently more on me than I would've wanted to admit… Speaking of confessions… I didn't even tell her the truth. The girl was freaking dying and I couldn't even tell her that I was actually sorry."
"I'm think she knew," his brother assured him comfortingly.
"Yeah…" Damon took another sip. Of course he knew all that. That she knew… They had had a split of a moment just before Elijah had arrived. She had looked at him. He had looked at her. He had just nodded in agreement with Stefan's goodbye speech but in that moment something had transpired between them, equal understanding. They were good. That thought put his mind a little at ease.
"Alright enough with the brooding. Let's go back inside and give the girl what she deserves. A toast."
Elijah looked at the watch on his arm. The little arrows inside just stroke seven pm sharp. He sighed deeply. Katherine still hadn't awakened. It hadn't worked. Now he would have to bury her… At least they had been given one last hour together… and a goodbye. It was but a small comfort.
Out of sudden there was a sharp intake of breath. Elijah spun around. There she was. Lying in the grass and looking straight at him. She had never been more beautiful than in that moment. In blink of an eye he was beside her, helping her straight up.
Their eyes locked. "Welcome back," he whispered smiling.
She returned the smile and then leant forward to capture his lips in a passionate kiss.
"Alright, everybody, here we go," Damon said, once again, supplying everyone with shot glass, including Stefan and Nadia. "Anyone want to say something?"
Suddenly the door of the manor opened.
"I have something to say."
Everyone's head spun around.
"Katherine!"
They were all staring at her as if they were seeing a ghost. After all they had thought she was actually dead.
Together with Elijah, Katherine walked up into the middle of the group and took Damon's glass.
"To me!" she toasted to herself and knocked back the shot. "Oh, and by the way," she added, handing the empty glass back to Damon. "Caroline, your two boyfriends are outside. You better go before they kill each other. Oh and Matt, you're girlfriends waiting outside, too"
The blond vampire raised a brow, stood up and shoved her shot glass into Damon's free hand and walked out. Matt was confused at first but then he understood. He knocked back his shot and stood up. Together he and Caroline walked outside.
"Alright," Katherine said then and turned to Elijah. "Let's go."
"Wait, where are you going?" demanded Nadia.
"Not sure yet. I'll be in touch."
"It was nice seeing you again. Goodnight," added Elijah.
And with that they turned around and left the manor. Outside they walked right passed Matt and Rebekah who were glued to each other and Caroline who had to intermediate between Tyler and Klaus who had both showed up to impress the blonde but now their jealousy levels had surged and they were indeed on the verge of killing each other.
However when Katherine and Elijah walked by Klaus averted his gaze from Caroline and stared at Katherine instead.
"You don't like you're dying."
"Let it go, Klaus," Elijah warned him friendly but firmly.
Damon, like everyone else, was still staring at the door through which Katherine had just disappeared as surprising as she had showed up.
Damon shook his head heavily. Then he raised the glass in his hand. "Well, long live Katherine Pierce."
Everyone burst out laughing and toasted to the one and only Katherine Pierce.
Alright, I feel like I need to explain my strange dream XD At first I only dreamt about the Kalijah part but then after the dream repeated itself five nights in a row a small part was added each time and so this 4000 word one shot was created.
I know my "solution" is a cop out move. But considering how many the writers pulled up this point I don't feel ashamed of using one in this story. Plus, I think somethink similar to this was in one of the books when Damon was turned human and turned back with the help of his acquaintance? I read that book ages ago and can't remember how exactly Damon was turned back but I'm almost certain it happened almost like this.
Even though it started out as a Kalijah one shot I was suddenly hit with these intense Datherine feelings during the process of writing. Ever since the writers assinated Damon's character by feeding Katherine to Silas I've been denying this ever happened. It's just not like Damon to do something like that! Not after everything he and Katherine went through. Nope. So I explored his feelings and the Datherine relationship in general as well. Let's face it, Datherine is such a complicated relationship you can't just put it into words. That's why I denied Damon the ability to express his feelings about Katherine's imminent death until after he thought she had died. I wanted him to be paralyzed in a way, reflect on their history and regret the decision to feed the woman he's loved for 145 years to Silas - and most importantly, I wanted him to realize that he does not hate Katherine, he never could.
The spoilers say Matt is attenting "We're getting rid of her" party in the next episode but considering that he's helped Katherine stay fit in the episode before it didn't make sense to me. So he became my "Wake up and give a dying woman her dignity" man. Something that was important to me, too, was that Jeremy voiced that he and Katherine were even. I really believe they are. Their scenes in 5x02 were beautiful to say the least. They have a special connection, too. My friend Inga likes to call them Team Tomb Raider because of their teamup in season 3. Their dynamic definitely deserved a place in this one shot.
And last but not least, Elena... To tell you the truth, ever since Elena became a vampire she's been pissing me off and in this season even more. Of course she's got all the reason to hate Katherine and hell, Katherine has all reason to return those feelings. But I miss human and compassionate Elena. That's why I let her apologize to Katherine for shoving the cure down her throat. And that is why Elena needed to be the one to call Elijah.
So I hope you enjoyed this one shot. I don't think more TVD related stuff will follow in the future because I stopped watching and I don't think the show will ever reach a level that I will enjoy which is very sad actually. TVD used to be my favorite show of the week. Now I couldn't care less. But I will be watching 500 years of solitute of course - still hoping that Elijah will show up :(